7 Stocks to Buy Ahead of the Next Big Rate Hikes Wall Street is searching for solid stocks to buy that could shield long-term portfolios from market volatility ahead of the anticipated interest rate hikes. While inflation may have peaked in July, it remains well above the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) 2% target. So far in 2022, the central bank has already raised its overnight lending rate by 2.25%. Investors will most likely see further interest rate hikes through the rest of the year in the Fed’s bid to bring down inflation. Chairman Jerome Powell recently remarked that the Fed aims to utilize its policymaking “tools forcefully to bring demand and supply into better balance.” Thus, the Fed is committed to a more contractionary monetary policy in the months ahead. Meanwhile, August ended on a down note, reversing some of the gains seen earlier in the summer. As a result, the benchmark SP 500 index is currently down 17% year-to-date (YTD), compared with the nearly 25% decline in the Nasdaq 100 index. Against this backdrop, it’s no surprise that investors are increasingly focused on stable stocks to buy in sectors that may outperform the broader market.